The bleak economic weather across Europe showed scant signs of turning on Wednesday after official data showed eurozone industrial production had slumped by a fifth in a year. However, conditions could soon brighten at least a little, economists believe.

Industrial production in the 16 countries sharing the euro was 20.2 per cent lower in March than the same month in 2008 – the steepest year-on-year drop since records began in 1991, according to Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical office. The level of production in March was the lowest since November 1997.